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'Operation Tidal Wave.' In December, an intercept by British customs agents led to the arrest of a principal actor in a counterfeit check scheme that is the latest mutation of Nigerian “419” fraud (an email scam named after the section of Nigerian penal code it violates). This particular scam targets individuals who are trying to sell something on Internet auction sites such as eBay. The arrest was part of “Operation Tidal Wave,” an international crackdown on Nigerian Internet fraud. For details, see
Trial of alleged bank swindlers opens in Nigeria. Five Nigerians accused of swindling a Brazilian bank out of $242 million are now on trial in their home country. The discovery of this scam has resulted in criminal investigations in Switzerland, Britain, the U.S., and Brazil. For details, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/3460861.stm
After a four-day trial, “Buffalo Spammer” Howard Carmack was convicted
of forgery, falsifying business records, and identity theft in connection with
his spamming operation. Carmack could get up to seven years in prison, and prosecutors
hope other would-be spammers will take note. For details on the case, see
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--buffalospammer0331mar31,0,1490329.story
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040325/1052573.asp
In January, federal authorities charged nearly two dozen people in New Jersey and 20 others around the nation with downloading child pornography from Regpay Co. Ltd, an Internet processor of website subscriptions in Minsk, Belarus. Regpay and Connections USA, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were also charged in the scheme.
In another legal action, a Florida man who directed children to pornographic websites using a domain-name scam was imprisoned for two and a half years in February. For details, see
A pair of co-conspirators in a fraudulent email advertising operation that
gleaned thousands of stolen credit card numbers were recently sentenced in federal
court. The chief perpetrator Helen Carr was sentenced to 46 months and her accomplice,
to 37 months.
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=64935&ran=83091
In recent years, Romania has taken the lead in international Internet auction fraud schemes, and authorities there are trying to reverse the trend, with some success. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3344721.stm
Earlier this year, Adobe Systems Inc. acknowledged that it had added some counterfeit-busting features to its popular graphics software at the request of government regulators seeking to protect the integrity of the world's major currencies. For details, see http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1430991,00.asp
Extortion gangs threatening online betting businesses with denial of service
attacks are being tracked down by the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit,
which claims it's closing in on the perpetrators.
http://www.silicon.com/software/security/0,39024655,39118977,00.htm
An alleged malware scripter who tricked a small number of MSN TV users into running a malicious email attachment was arrested and charged with cyberterrorism under the provisions of the US PATRIOT Act. The malicious script reprogrammed the TV set-top boxes to dial 9-1-1 emergency response http://www.securityfocus.com/news/8136
Con artists trading in bogus domain names were intercepted before they could skim more than half a million dollars from unsuspecting victims. See http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/businessstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3560128&thesection=business&thesubsection=technology&thesecondsubsection=information